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634 New Spain consisting chiefly of raw silk, colored cotton fabrics, wax, and Chinese earthern ware. By 1794, however, the trade had so greatly decreased that in 1792 and 1793 no fair had been held at Acapulco owing to lack of attendance, and in the following year the fleet did not arrive. The trade afterward revived considerably, since Humboldt states that the amount of bullion annually shipped averaged 1,000,000 pesos, and often reached 1,300,000.

Besides the Philippine trade at Acapulco some commerce was also carried on between New Spain and Peru at the same port, but the restrictions put upon it reduced it to a very limited scale. Only two vessels of two hundred tons burden each were permitted annually to visit Acapulco, and the goods they took away paid an export duty of two and a half per cent. But even these niggardly conditions were regarded as too liberal, and the conde de Montesclaros, viceroy of Peru, expressed his opinion to the king that only one ship a year should be allowed to sail to Acapulco, and that the export duty at that port and the import duty at Callao should be made excessive. Thus the clamp was tightened for the benefit of the Seville merchants, and both Peru and New Spain protested against restrictions which virtually precluded all trade between them. Even the sorry